Iranian finds peace in Kumara | The Greymouth Evening Star
By Meg Fulford
Kumara woman Nas White, pictured with healing 'sound bowls' at her West Coast property, fled Iran with her family as a child. She said she would welcome regime change in her homeland. PICTURE: Brendon McMahon.
With all eyes on the Middle East, as Israel and Iran trade blows, for one West Coast woman the recent bombing of Haifa has triggered a range of emotions.
Iranian-born Nas White, a Bahai now resident in Kumara with her husband and children, told the Greymouth Star: "Haifa is a very special place it has the Bahai gardens at Mount Carmel."
Following the 1979 Islamic revolution, much of Mrs White's original family land was confiscated, and the family targeted repeatedly for their Bahai faith.
Born and raised in Tehran for the first six years of her life, the continual persecution saw her family finally flee to New Zealand.
"We had to get out, our family was being targeted, there were mass killings, destroying homes and businesses," Mrs White said.
"Countless Bahais (a peace-loving religion) have been arrested and persecuted under the current regime in Iran."
Among them were several of her family members accused of spying for Israel - "and the arrests are continuing".
"The house I spent the first six years of my life in was evacuated last week but some family are refusing to leave. District 18 was made to evacuate today - it is so, so surreal!"
A cousin's wedding had to be downsized just over a week ago following the onset of the war, and not long afterwards, when the guests had left, the venue itself was bombed.
"We want peace and to be good people, and a change of regime - it has been in place for 46 years.
"Many family members dispersed from Iran after the revolution but some remained. My father video-called them on my wedding day and he was informed one had been arrested. They (the regime) had taken all the person's books, all their devices and refused to disclose the location of their imprisonment."
"Hefty fees" were paid to release the family member from prison and they are now in hiding.
The repression and persecution of Bahais is not limited to the living: "Bahai graves have been desecrated, and the Iranian regime withholds. bodies of loved ones, they do not
release bodies to families for days, it is so inhumane."
Since her family fled Iran they have been living throughout Australia and New Zealand, where Mrs White met and married her husband, Kumara man Hamish White, in 2010. The couple have returned to Kumara and she has set up House of Jasmine, where she practises reiki and healing.
Coming from a war zone, she said she wants the people of the West Coast to appreciate that they live in paradise.
"I identify as a Bahai and my husband Hamish is an atheist. We both believe that, at the end of the day, just don't do anything to others that you wouldn't want for yourself. The world is but one country and mankind its citizen."